Edible Play

This week in the toddler room we looked for new ways to do things around the room. To do this we focused on creating edible resources so that we could explore with all of our senses. Edible play has many benefits for us as they encourage sensory, motor and cognitive development as well as fostering social and emotional growth.

We were able to explore textures, colours and tastes. For our first activity we helped to make edible paint using yoghurt and food colouring mixed together. We loved the bright colours we created and used paint brushes to make marks and some beautiful pictures. Some of us even enjoyed tasting our “paint”. For our next activity we explored a new texture using jelly. We used our hands and Utensils to squash and squeeze the jelly exercising our motor skills.

We tried balancing and scooping the wobbly jelly on spoons to fill up our tubs and jugs. As we played we talked about the different smells of the jelly and which fruits they linked to, some of us even had a taste to be sure. This encouraged us to make links and think about which language we could use. For our final activity we crushed up some cereal to create edible sand. We added diggers and blocks to our “sand” and explored creating our own structures sprinkling the sand in between and on top of the blocks. We explored space and shape by working together to create towers and obstacles for our vehicles to go round.

For our final activity we explored patting and moulding through edible play dough that we made using cornflour and yoghurt. We enjoyed using cutters and utensils to create moulds and shapes with our dough. We then added some home corner utensils to role play with. Well done toddlers what a busy week of exploring and learning.